Apparatus for manufacturing artificial stone.



J. W. HUGHES. APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING ARTIFIGIAL STONE.

' APPLICATION rnnn 00111, 1913.

Patented June '16, 1914,

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES Jmes WH I I Q/ I BY u ghes a-WM ATTORNEY IN VEN TOR J. W.HUGHES. PPABA US FOR MANH'PA OTUBING 'ARTIFIGIAL STONE.

OATIOI nun our. 11, ma

Patented June 16, 19m 3 BHEETSBKBET 2.

J. W. HUGHES. APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING ARTIFIGIAL STONE. APPLICATIONI'ILED 00T.11, 1913.

1,100,374. r Patented June 16, 1914.

a SHEETS-SHEET 3.

4 INVENTOR WITNESSES James W Hughes 9; 6%? BY a I ATTORNEY UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

JAMES W.'HUGHES, OF NARIBERTH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO LUCY K. HUGHES,OF NARBERTH, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING ARTIFICIAL STONE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 16, 1914.

Application filed October 11, 1913. Serial No. 794,538.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMEs ll. HUGHES, citizen of the United States, and.resident of Narberth, county of Montgomery, and State of Pennsylvania,have invented an Improvement in Apparatus for Manufacturing ArtificialStone, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the art of brick and artificial stone making,and the object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for themaking of artificial stone or like material, in which the preparedingredients are molded in suitable form, then heated to a hightemperature and finally cooled.

More particularly, my invention has for it's main object the method andmeans for making delivery ofpthe articles to a traveling hearth of afurnace, and a delivery of heated articles therefrom, whereby the procesmay be onducted in a, substantially continuou manner and the efliciencyof the apparatus be such that the operation is not affected orinterfered with by the high temperature of the furnace.

In carrying my invention into practice, I provide a furnace having anannular hearth,

which is intermittently moved through the heated zone of the furnacebody and at intervals throughout its length I deposit thereon freshlymolded articles, and remove therefrom highly heated articles which havebeen previously subjected to the high temperature zone of the furnace,said results being accomplished b transversely moving conveyer devicesWhich extend across the width of any portion of theannular hearth so asto be alternately brought into the highly heated atmosphere ad acent tothe hearthand to the cool outside atmosphere,

. the latter acting to reduce the temperature of the heated conveyerdevices immediately after being heated in crossing the hearth encethereof, one portion of said chain tructure serving to convey the cooledarticle on to the hearth While another portion thereof serves to removethe heated articles from the hearth.

The conveyer devices above referred to are preferably operatedintermittently, though of course they may be otherwise controlled andthe hearth while always moving in'the same direction i also preferablys'ubected to intermittent movement so that the newly introduced articlesmay be carried out of the custody of the tangs of the conveyer devicesby frictional contact with the moving hearth. while at the same time thehighly heated articles, having passed through the length of the furnace,are delivered into the custody of the tangs of said conveyer devices.

My invention also comprehends further details of construction which,together with the features above specified will be better understood byreference to the drawings, in which I Figure 1 represents a plan of anapparatus embodying my invention; Fig. 2 rep resents a section on lineXX of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 represents a detail of a mechanical movementemployed; Fig. 4 represents a vertical section of a portion of thefurnace showin. a modified form of conveyer mechanlsm; Fig. 5 representsa plan of the modified form of conveyer shown in Fig. 45 Fig. 6represents a plan of a portion of the modified type of conveyer chain;Fig. 7 represents a side elevation of the same; Fig,

8 represents a side elevation of the pre-.

ferred form of conveyer; Fig. 9 represents a plan of the portion shownin Fi 8.

"Referring to the drawings, 1 esignates the casing of a furnace which isprovided with an annular channel 2 which forms the oven or bakingchamber through which the articles to be baked are suitably conveyed itbeing understood that this chamber is heated in any well known manner,and the burners or like heat-supplying means form no part of the presentinvention.

3 designate a pair of track rails suitably mounted within the chamber 2and secured to the floor thereof in any suitable manner, While atsuitable intervals throughout the length of the channel 2 there arebearing rolls 4, having suitable tapered recesses 5 to conform to theshape of the bearing surface of the rails 3. The aforesaid rolls 4 aresecured together at each end by suitable links 6 whereby an endlesschain 1s produced having substantially the function of a roller bearing.

7 designates the bottom hearth plate to which suitable depending rails 8are secured, the said rails being respectively curved in a similarmanner to the rails 3, and each adapted to seat in a groove 5 of therolls 4. Thi construction provides an inner and an outer fixedsupporting rail an intermediate series of rolls linked together andadapted to move with respect to the adjacent rails while supporting"thereon the inner and outer rails 8 which depend from the hearthplate 7.Upon the plate 7 there is mounted a table 9, preferably formed offire-brick or like heat-resisting material, while at either side thereofthe space between the said table and the walls of the channel 2 isfilled with suitable packing 10 to prevent the escape of heat units.

As here shown the rotatable part embodying the members 7 and 9 is dr1venthrough the medium of a rack 11 fixed at a suitable point to the hearth,and of course extending throughout the length thereof. In mesh with thisrack 11 there is a pinion 12 carried by a spindle 13, the latter passingthrough the casing 1, and being driven through suitable gearing from theshaft 14. The shaft 14 in the present instance is actuated by a facegear mechanism comprising the slotted disk 15 carried by the shaft 14and pin 16 of the continuously rotating member 17, thislatter beingmounted upon the main shaft 18, which is driven from any suitable sourceof power such as the motor 19 and belt drive 20.

- 21 designates an endless conveyer chain formed of a plurality of linkspivoted together and each having in the preferred form of my invention alaterally disposed tang 22. In the operation of the conveyer these tangsare so positioned with res ect to the hearth table 9 that articlescarrie by the said table are delivered between adjacent tangs on oneside of the conveyer, while articles contained within the tang on theopposite side of the conveyer are removed from the conveyer by the samemovement of the hearth.

- In Fig. 1 I have shown the preferred construction wherein the conveyer21 is disposed in a substantially horizontal plane and passes aroundsuitable idle sprockets 23 and 24, the latter being located at theopposite side of the path of the hearth table from the remainingsprocket so thata .por-'- tion of the conveyer is always exposed to thecool exterior air. The conveyer 21 passes through suitable openings 25and 26 extending transversely through the casing 1, and are so arrangedwith respect to the movable hearth table that the conveyer passesthrough the walls of the furnace, or oven substantiall flush with thereceiving surface of the hearth table 9, so that articles carried by theconveyer are either deposited upon the hearth table or removedtherefrom. The conveyer 21 is preferably intermittently actuated bymeans of a step-by-step mechanism comprising the sprocket 27, shaft 28and beveled gear 29, this latter being in mesh with a similar gear 30 ona countershaft 31. Motion is imparted to the countershaft 31 through aslotted member 32 fixed to the shaft 31 and engaged by a pin 33 of adisk 34 fixed to the shaft 18, and it will of course be understood thatboth of these mechanisms controlling theintermittent actuation of thehearth 9 and conveyer 21 are so timed and related as to be actuated atthe proper time in the cycle of operation. 35 designates the deliverytable located adjacent the discharge point from the rotary furnace andthe same is here provided at a suitable point with a mold opening 36above which the heated articles are passed by the conveyer 21 and theresubjected to a pressing or final molding by means of the pivoted presserarm 37 which is raised and lowered by suitable crank movement 38,

driven from any suitable source and adapted to coact with the mold pad39 controlled by the spring pressed afm 40. 41 designatesdiagrammatically a drier into which the material is delivered by themolding mechanism 42 and after a preliminary drying the aforesaid moldedmaterial is passed along,the ways 43 to the table 44 where it is pickedup by the conveyer 21 in its movement into the machine.

In Fi s. 4 and 5 I have shown a modified form 0 apparatus wherein theconveyer mechanism 21 is arranged substantially in a vertical plane andit is therefore necessary to. provide a plurality of these conveyerchains as shown in Fig. 5, one of which as 45,. serves to deliver thearticles to the furnace, while the other, as 46, serves to discharge thehighly heated materials from the furnace.

In Figs. 6 to 9 I have shown details of portions of each form ofconveyer chain, and. it will readily be understood that in the referredform the tangs are disposed at rlght angles to the pivot pins 47, whilein the modlfied form the tangs are substantially parallel to the saidins 47, so that the respective'conveyer. chains will follow the properpath of movement and position the tangs in the desired manner.

The operation 'of the machine is as follows: The pre-heated moldedmaterial is delivered from the drying chamber 41 to the table 44 wherethe said articles are successively placed between adjacent prongs 22 Ivised an apparatus for makin of the finishin started by the intermittentor step-by-step.

mechanism, a plurality of the articles or units are carried forwardthrough the opening 25 into the chamber 2, where they pass along thesurface of the rotatable hearth 9, and when the number of units upon thehearth approximates the width capacity of said hearth, the conveyer isautomatically brought to rest. Simultaneously with this stopping of theconveyer the rotatable hearth is given a partial rotation and thefrictional engagement of the hearth with the row of units causes thesaid units to be removed from the prongs of the conveyer 21, and it isthen free to introduce another row of units into the furnace. When thefurnace has been substantially filled by the successive rows of units,the row of units first placed in the furnace has been brought into closeproximity to the discharge side of the conveyer 21, and is alined wit-hthe opening 26 so that from this point the operation of the furnacebecomes substantially a continuous one, since while one row of uniw isenterin through the opening25 and being positioned upon the hearth 9, asecond row of highly heated units takes a position upon the oppositeside of the conveyer 21 ready to be discharged through the opening 26.As the units in their highly heated state are drawn out of the furnace,they pass successively through the press mechanism 37 and are therepressed into final shape while still in the conveyer 21, and are thendeposited upon a conveyer belt 48 which forms a part leer mechanism.

I have described my imprhvements on the more approved construction, asthat is preferred by me in practice, but I do not restrict or limitmyself to the details, as they may be changed or modified in many wayswithout departing from the spirit of the movements; for example, insteadof the hearth being made'in annular form it may be made in any other wayso long as it is made to travel under the transverse conveyer devices,and likewise, the conveyer devices may be made in various forms so longas they act to move the articles transversely upon and from thetraveling hearth and ortions thereof are moved to a cool atmosp ereafter passing'into close relation with the heated hearth, all of whichwill be understood by those skilled in the art.

It will now be apparent that I have dedelivery to and discharge fromafurnace in which the conveying means for conveying the articles intoand from the furnace extends entirely across the zone of hightemperature in the furnace and into the cooler atmosphere on each sideof the furnace, whereby during its movement it passes from a zone of'lowtemperature into a zone of high temperature within the furnace, and thenagain into a and thence again into the zone of high temperature and inthe act of transferring the articles therefrom said means passes into azone of cooler temperature, whereby said conveying means is notsubjected continuously to the destructive heat of the zone of hightemperature of the furnace.

The construction whereby the conveyer devices are moved alternate y intoa heating and cooling atmosphere, is an important feature of thisinvention irrespective of the details of the construction, and Itherefore do not restrict myself to the details shown.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to protect byLetters Patent of the United States 1. In an apparatus of the characterstated, a furnace having a traveling hearth, combined with an endlessconveyer having parts arranged to engage articles to be moved into andfrom the hearth in normal operation thereof, said conveyer extendingtransversely across the surface of the hearth and having one portionoperating to feed articles to be heated onto the hearth and anotherportion simultaneously delivering heated articles from" the hearth, andmeans for imparting motion to the conveyer.

2. In an apparatus of the characterstated, a furnace having a travelinghearth, combined with an endless conveyer having arts arranged to engagearticles to be mov into and from the hearth in normal operation thereof,said conveyer extending transversely across the surface of the hearthand having one portion operating to feed articles to be heated onto thehearth and another portion simultaneouslydelivering heated articles fromthe hearth, supporting means for the articles arranged below theconveyer where it moves to and from the hearth, and means for impartingmotion to the conveyer.

3. In an apparatus of the character stated, a furnace having a travelinghearth, combined with means for delivering articles to and from thehearth in normal operation thereof, consisting of guides arranged onopposite sides of the hearth surface, and a horizontally arrangedendless conveyer of chain-like structure extending about said zontallyarranged endless conveyer of chainporting the articles while beingpushed by the conveyer onto and from the hearth, and means for causing,the conveyer to be moved.

- 5. In an apparatus of the character stated, a'furnace having atraveling hearth, combined with means for delivering articles to andfrom the hearth in normal operation thereof, consisting of guidesarranged on opposite sides of the hearth surface, and a horizontallyarranged endless conveyer of chain-like structure extending about saidguides and having parts to engage and push the articles onto-and fromthe hearth, said conveyer extending across the heated hearth and intocooler atmospheric zones at each side thereof, whereby the conveyerportions may have opportunity to cool after passing;

over the heated hearth, means for causing the conveyer to be moved, andmeans for intermittently moving the conveyer whereby it ismomentarily-held at substantial rest during the removal of, articlesfrom its custody and delivery of heated articles into its custody by thetraveling hearth.

atjfurnace having a traveling hearth, com- 6. In an apparatus of thecharacter stated,

bined with an endless conveyer having arts arranged to engage articlesto be mov into and from the hearth in normal operation thereof, saidconveyer extending transversely across the surface of the hearth andhaving one portion operatingto feed articles to be heated onto thehearth and another portion simultaneously delivering heatedarticles fromthe hearth, means for imparting motion to the conveyer, and means forintermittently moving the conveyer whereby it is momentarily held atsubstantial rest during the removal of articles from its custody anddelivery of heated articles into its custody by the traveling hearth.

7. In an apparatus of the character stated, the combination of a furnacehaving a traveling hearth, a transversely arranged conveyer chainextending across the hearth and to a distance to one side of it so as tobe out of the zone of high temperature, a support arrangedunder theconveyer for supporting the articles to be fed into the furnace whilebeing moved by the conveyer, and means for intermittently moving theconveyer whereby it is momentarily held at substan-' tial-rest duringthe removal of articles from i-ts'custody and delivery of heatedarticles into its custody by the traveling hearth.

In testimony of which invention, I hereunto set my hand.

JAMES W. HUGHES.

Witnesses:

E. W. SMrrH, C. E. KLEINFELDEB.

